A Study of the History of Chinese Lexicography based on the Arrangement System of Characters

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This study was planed to study the history of Chinese dictionaries from the point of manners of arrangement of entries, that is, Chinese characters. Every Chinese character is composed of three elements, form, sound and meaning, so we have three kinds of traditional Chinese dictionaries which are arranged by one of these three elements. Historically speaking, firstly "Er-ya 爾雅" arranged by meaning of character was completed, secondly "Shuo-wen Jie-zi 説文解字" arranged by form of character was completed, lastly "Sheng-lei 声類" arranged by sound of character was completed. I revealed the reason why the three types of Chinese traditional dictionaries were completed in this order is due to degree of difficulty in analyzing form, sound and meaning of Chinese character.